Multi-Source Search

Discover novels across multiple platforms with aggregated search, provider-specific browsing, and instant download integration

Overview

The Search feature aggregates novel discovery across multiple sources simultaneously. It provides unified search results, provider-specific library browsing, and seamless integration with the Download Manager.

Search queries are sent to all active providers in parallel, with results displayed as they arrive in real-time.

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Search Interface

Universal Search Bar

The primary search input queries all providers at once:

🔍 Search by title... (Press Enter)

1. Enter Query

   Type a novel title or keyword (e.g., “Estate Developer”)

2. Press Enter

   Initiates search across all active providers

3. View Results

   Results appear grouped by provider as they load

4. Select Novel

   Click any result to view details and start download

The search bar automatically focuses when you navigate to the Search page, so you can start typing immediately.

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Search Results

Provider Groups

Results are organized by source:

Layout Structure

Each provider shows:

• Provider icon and name
• Status indicator (loading, success, error, not found)
• Result count badge
• Novel cards/list (switchable view)
• Expand/collapse for providers with >5 results

// Provider header
<div className="flex items-center gap-3">
  <img src={provider.icon} />
  <h2>{provider.name}</h2>
  {provider.beta && <span>BETA</span>}
</div>

Status States

State	Indicator	Meaning
Loading	Spinning loader + “Searching…”	Query in progress
Success	Green badge with count	Results found
Not Found	Gray “Nothing found” message	No matches
Error	Red alert icon + message	Provider temporarily unavailable

Live Progress Indicator

During search:

🔵 Searching 3 of 8 sources...

After completion:

Results: 5 sources  ⚠️ 1 failed

Failed providers don’t block the search. You’ll still see results from successful sources.

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View Modes

Grid View (Default)

Features

• Large cover previews
• Hover zoom effect
• Chapter count badge on hover
• “View Details” button overlay
• Responsive grid (2-6 columns)

Best For

• Visual browsing
• Recognizing covers
• Discovering new titles
• Small result sets (under 50 novels)

List View

Features

• Compact rows
• Small thumbnail covers
• Title + chapter info inline
• Faster scrolling
• Better text search

Best For

• Large result sets (>50 novels)
• Scanning titles quickly
• Lower-end devices
• Searching specific titles

Toggle between views using the Grid/List buttons in the top-right corner. Your preference is remembered during the session.

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Novel Details Modal

Clicking any result opens an immersive detail view:

Information Tabs

Description Tab:

• Full novel synopsis
• Author name
• Source website link
• Loading skeleton during fetch

Chapters Tab:

• Complete chapter list
• Chapter titles (if available)
• Numbered index
• “Select” button per chapter to start download from that point

The Chapters tab only appears for novel sources. E-book sources (like Anna’s Archive) show Description only.

Actions

Primary Action:

// Start Download button
<button onClick={() => navigate('/download', {
  state: {
    prefill: {
      url: novel.firstChapterUrl,
      title: novel.title,
      author: novel.author,
      cover: novel.cover,
      sourceId: novel.sourceId
    }
  }
})} />

This navigates to Download Manager with all fields pre-filled.

Secondary Actions:

• View Source: Opens novel page in external browser
• Close: ESC key or X button

Chapter Selection

Instead of starting from Chapter 1, you can:

1. Open the Chapters tab
2. Scroll to desired starting chapter
3. Click Select button next to that chapter
4. Download Manager opens with that chapter URL as start point

Useful if you’ve already read the first 50 chapters elsewhere and want to continue from Chapter 51.

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Provider Library Browsing

Explore Mode

When no search is active, you see a grid of provider cards:

1. Select Provider

   Click any provider card to browse their library

2. Choose Category

   Tabs appear for categories like “Popular”, “Latest”, “Completed”, etc.

3. Browse Results

   Paginated results load (default: first page)

4. Load More

   Click Load More button to fetch next page

5. Return to Search

   Click back arrow to exit explore mode

Category Filtering

Providers define their own categories:

// Example provider categories
categories: [
  { id: 'popular', name: 'Popular' },
  { id: 'latest', name: 'Latest Updates' },
  { id: 'completed', name: 'Completed' },
  { id: 'ongoing', name: 'Ongoing' }
]

Click any category tab to reload results for that filter.

Pagination

// Load more implementation
const loadMoreExplore = async () => {
  const nextPage = exploreState.page + 1;
  const data = await window.electronAPI.exploreCategory({
    sourceId: provider.id,
    categoryId: category,
    page: nextPage
  });
  
  // Append to existing results
  setResults(prev => [...prev, ...data]);
};

The “Load More” button disappears when no additional pages exist.

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Provider Management

Active Providers

The header shows the count of active sources:

✨ 8 Sources

Adding More Providers

Click the “Add More Sites” card to visit the Marketplace:

Community Providers

Browse community-maintained scrapers

Official Sources

Verified providers with guaranteed compatibility

Beta Providers

Experimental sources (may be unstable)

Custom Providers

Import your own provider scripts

See the Providers Guide for detailed instructions on installing and creating custom providers.

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Search Integration with Download Manager

Pre-filled Downloads

When you click Start Download from search results:

1. URL: First chapter URL automatically detected
2. Title: Novel title pre-filled
3. Author: Author metadata included
4. Cover: Cover image attached (base64 encoded)
5. Source ID: Provider identifier passed for optimal scraping

This saves manual data entry and ensures complete EPUB metadata.

// Prefill state structure
state: {
  prefill: {
    url: "https://site.com/novel/chapter-1",
    title: "The Greatest Estate Developer",
    author: "Author Name",
    cover: "data:image/jpeg;base64,...",
    sourceId: "lightnovelworld"
  }
}

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Search Tips & Best Practices

Improving Search Accuracy

Use specific keywords:

✅ “Estate Developer” → Better results

❌ “Developer” → Too broad, many false matches

Include distinctive words:

• Use unique terms from the title
• Avoid common words like “the”, “a”, “novel”
• Try alternative titles (Japanese, Korean, Chinese)

When Search Returns No Results

1. Check spelling → Try alternative romanizations
2. Use shorter query → “Overgeared” vs “Overgeared Light Novel”
3. Try explore mode → Browse provider libraries manually
4. Check provider status → Some sources may be temporarily down
5. Add more providers → Expand your search coverage

Finding Popular Novels

Instead of searching:

1. Use Explore Mode on any provider
2. Select “Popular” category
3. Browse trending titles across platforms

This discovers novels you might not have known to search for.

Dealing with Slow Providers

If one provider is very slow:

• Results from faster providers appear first
• Slow provider shows “Searching…” longer
• You can start downloads before all results arrive
• Consider disabling slow providers in Settings

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Advanced Search Features

Hover Previews

// Novel hover state
onMouseEnter={() => setHoveredNovel(novel.title)}

Hovering shows:

• Chapter count badge
• View Details button
• Zoom effect on cover
• Shadow glow (blue)

Search State Persistence

During a session:

• Search query persists when navigating to Download/Library
• Results remain visible when you return to Search
• Expanded provider states are remembered
• View mode preference maintained

Search state clears when you restart the app or manually clear the search bar.

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Keyboard Shortcuts

Enter

Execute search from input field

Escape

Close novel details modal

Tab

Navigate between view mode buttons and provider cards

Ctrl/Cmd + K

Focus search bar from anywhere (coming soon)

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Troubleshooting

Search not returning results

Check network connection:

• Providers require internet access
• Firewall may block requests
• VPN might cause issues with some sources

Verify providers are loaded:

• Header should show “X Sources”
• If 0 sources, go to Settings → Providers
• Reinstall providers from Marketplace

All providers showing errors

This usually means:

• Backend is not running (restart app)
• Provider scripts are outdated (update from Marketplace)
• Website structures changed (check for provider updates)

Novel details not loading

• Provider may not support detail fetching (only search)
• Novel URL might be invalid
• Website requires authentication (not supported)
• Try opening source link in browser to verify

Covers not displaying

• Some providers don’t return cover URLs
• Image hosting may block direct linking
• Network timeout during image load
• Fallback placeholder should still appear

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Provider Architecture

Under the hood, search works like this:

// Search flow
1. User enters query
2. Frontend sends IPC to Electron main
3. Electron loads provider scripts
4. Each provider exports searchNovel() function
5. Provider scrapes source website
6. Results returned to frontend
7. UI updates with results

Developers can create custom providers by following the Provider Development Guide.

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Next Steps

Start Downloading

Use search results to begin scraping novels

Add Providers

Expand your search across more websites

Manage Library

Organize and read downloaded EPUBs

Scraping Flow

Build your own provider for unsupported sites